Despite being part of the “in a Nutshell series” this is a seriously thick book and while it is flagged “third edition” it is the first volume that the Albahari brothers, Joseph and Ben, have written about C# 3.0. For readers already familiar with C# 2.0, they have included more than a hundred pages on the major new feature introduced into the language in Visual Studio 2008 – LINQ, Language Integrated Query. You don’t, however, need prior acquaintance with C# to benefit from this reference tome as it comprehensively covers all the aspects of the language. It will be equally useful if you are still working in C# 2.0 since sections that apply only to C# 3.0 are clearly marked as such. On the other hand the book isn’t aimed at complete beginners and readers are expected to have some general programming experience. The first three chapters after the introduction are solely about C# - starting with syntax, types, and variables and progressing to advanced topics such as unsafe code and preprocessor directives. The remaining chapters cover the core NET Framework, which includes such topics as collections, LINQ, XML, streams, networking, reflection, security, threading, application domains, working with native DLLs, and diagnostics. This is a book C# programmers will find a useful addition to their bookshelves.